Brazil recalls envoy in protest at Israel atrocities

Brazil has recalled its ambassador to Israel in protest at the Tel Aviv regimeâ€™s "disproportionate use of force" in the besieged Gaza Strip.

"The Brazilian government considers unacceptable escalation of violenceâ€¦. We strongly condemn the disproportionate use of force by Israel in the Gaza Strip, from which large numbers of civilian casualties, including women and children, resulted," the Brazilian government said in a statement on Thursday.

"Given the seriousness of the situation, the Brazilian government voted for the resolution of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations on the subject. In addition, the ambassador of Brazil in Tel Aviv was called to Brasilia for consultations," it added.

The event came a day after the Ecuadoran government recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv because of the Israeli invasion of Gaza.

Since July 8, Israeli warplanes have been pounding numerous sites in the Gaza Strip, demolishing homes and burying families in the rubble. Israeli tanks also began a ground offensive against the impoverished Palestinian land on July 17.

In response, Palestinian resistance fighters have continued to rain a barrage of rockets into the occupied Palestinian territories.

â€œWe strongly condemn the disproportionate use of force by Israel in the Gaza Strip,â€ Brazilian Foreign Ministry says.

Israel denounced Brazil on Thursday for recalling its ambassador to Israel for consultations in protest over the IDFâ€™s operation in the Gaza Strip, calling it an economic power but an irrelevant diplomatic power.

â€œThis is an unfortunate demonstration of why Brazil, an economic and cultural giant, remains a diplomatic dwarf,â€ said Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor. â€œThe moral relativism behind this move makes Brazil an irrelevant diplomatic partner, one who creates problems rather than contributes to solutions.â€

A statement put out by the Brazilian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday announcing the recall of its ambassador said Brazil considered the â€œescalation of violence between Israel and Palestineâ€ as unacceptable.

â€œWe strongly condemn the disproportionate use of force by Israel in the Gaza Strip.â€

Foreign Ministry officials were bracing for other Latin American countries to follow suit, noting that Brazil often sets the tone in South America.

In 2010, once Brazil recognized a Palestinian state, a number of other South American countries did the same.

One diplomatic official explained Brazilâ€™s move as a way to ingratiate itself with the Arab and non-aligned countries in an effort to forge alliances in international forums and increase its international diplomatic status. Ultimately, the official said, Brazil feels it will need these alliances to achieve its aim of gaining a seat on the UN Security Council.

The Foreign Ministry released a statement saying the decision â€œdoes not reflect the level of relations between the countries and ignores Israelâ€™s right to defend itself.â€ Israel expected support from its friends in its struggle against Hamas, an organization recognized as a terror group by many countries around the world, the statement said.

Brazil was one of the 29 countries that voted in the UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday to probe Israelâ€™s actions in Gaza â€“ 17 countries abstained, and only the US opposed. One Israeli official said Brazilâ€™s representative to the council was especially â€œbadâ€ when addressing the council.

In addition to Brazil, all the Latin American countries on the UNHRC â€“ Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela â€“ voted against Israel.

By comparison, four out of the 13 African countries on the Council â€“ Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso and Gabon â€“ abstained in the vote.

During Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009, Bolivia cut ties with Israel, and Mauritania â€“ the only Arab country besides Jordan and Egypt that had relations with Israel â€“ recalled its envoy for consultations, a prelude to it later breaking off ties.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor responded to the decision of Brazil to recall its ambassador to Israel by dubbing the country a â€˜diplomatic dwarfâ€™ and referencing the countryâ€™s 7-1 defeat to Germany in the World Cup.

Israelâ€™s response is perfectly proportionate and in accordance with international law. This is not football. In football, a draw is a proportionate scoreline. 7-1 is a disproportionate scoreline. Sorry to say, but this not so in real life and under international law.

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To translate this rather confused sounding statement, Palmorâ€™s point was that the rate of casualties on either side in a conflict is not equivalent to the scoreline in a game of football. So, while 7-1 might seem a disproportionate scoreline, the differences in the casualty rate between the Palestinians and the Israeliâ€™s were not, in Palmorâ€™s view, disproportionate.

About the Nazis, they escaped from europeans courts for America's countries. Brazil, Argentina, USA received several Nazis criminals interested in their scientific, technological, military, etc. knowledges. None country has moral to criticize another by did this.

Brazil received also many thousands of Syrians and Lebaneses immigrants. SÃ£o Paulo is the most arabic city outside ME. Our arabs are mainly of Christian families, as Maronite and Melquite Christians escaping from Ottoman rule. Very few were moslems.

But not this is enough to explain Brazilian diplomatic position against Israeli strikes. Our position is not based in anti-semitism. Any country worried about human rights, war conventions, international laws, would condemn Israel. For chance, Brazil was the only one to vote against Israel in UN?? So why not Israel also rise up its voice against all other, including India which voted against it too??

Any country, independently of its feelings about jewish people, would feel offended by the Israeli foreign minister declarations, and to demand a retractation and more respect for.